“Just as the personalization of the aspects of Essence leads to the synthesis of all such personalized aspects, the personalization of the various dimensions— the objective dimensions of Essence and ...”
Continue

"First, I wanted to say I am quite heartened and happy with the ongoing discussions and conversations that this contemplation invited. I am so glad that many saw the value of such inquiry, that we do not have to protect our particular spiritual real estate, but be generous and open to dialogue with others who hold different points of view. I wanted to point to the preciousness of each teaching, but wanted to do it while honoring their uniqueness and particular contribution to mankind’s learning of the spiritual way of Being." Continue Reading »

The only knowledge we have of a world is our experience. What is the nature of experience, and how does it happen? What are the means through which the nature of experience and how it happens may be discovered?

In this conversation with Rupert Spira and A. H. Almaas we will explore the nature and dynamic of experience, and their two distinct approaches to that inquiry.

Excerpts About Loving Light

Loving Light is what some call Christ consciousness: universal, boundless, unconditional love and light. As the Loving Light arises and begins to affect ego activity, what it does specifically is erase egoic hope. Love is action in the now, while hope is for the future. So, as the love arises, it affects the egoic hope, and the more you let go of the hope, the more ego activity ceases. Loving Light arises as a result of seeing the hope as a central part of ego activity. Facets of Unity, p. 49 • discuss »

The important part of this new experience is that the soul begins to see that the delicate presence of this loving light is not only inside her. It is all around, everywhere, bathing and blessing all manifestation. All forms look as if they are melted and surrendered, softened and released. Everything looks luminous, beautiful, and in complete harmony. She recognizes that essence has now manifested in a boundless form, as the presence of oceanic love that is at the same time light and consciousness. It is conscious love, loving light, the coemergence of presence, light, and love in a soft and delicate ocean that suffuses everything and cleanses it from all her projections. All objects appear immersed in its grace, and all essential aspects manifest as sweet substances condensing from it. Inner Journey Home, p. 49 • discuss »

At this point students typically encounter a particular object relation: the experience of oneself as a child relating to a parent who is not loving. Usually this parent is the father. The more one becomes the Loving Light the more the self-concept or the personalshell is perceived as a child who is scared and small. Frequently a dialogue ensues between the child and the Loving Consciousness. The child feels angry at the loving presence, feeling abandoned by it, during difficult times. One can realize that one is projecting the father’s image on this cosmic presence, which is sometimes equated with God. But seeing this presence as Love brings out the loving object relation to father. One starts remembering the love between father and child. It is interesting that this particular object relation between child and father becomes activated during the time of dealing with ego identity. Sometimes the relation is with mother, but usually, especially at the beginning, the relation is with the father. We consistently find that the father image is projected on, or associated with, the aspect of Being that appears as divine or cosmic, God the Father

The issues of basic trust and the surrender that it engenders are not specific to the work on narcissism. However, some resolution of these issues is necessary for the surrender involved in slowing down and ceasing ego activity. The realization of this quality of love, which we call Living Daylight or Loving Light, resolves these issues. The presence of the Living Daylight helps us to let go of the empty shell, to allow the narcissistic wound and accept the narcissistic emptiness. This boundless, loving presence makes it easier for the self to relax and cease activity. One also comes to understand that it is this love which actually acts, and not the self. It is the melting action of this love that finally dissolves the ego activity. Our discussion of the quality of Living Daylight is necessarily short, but it illuminates the deep dynamics underlying the activity which perpetuates the identity structure. We can see why the resolution of fundamental narcissism can come about only with a deep spiritual orientation. Realization requires a fundamental surrender of the self.

Another reason that the need for dealing with hatred naturally arises when working with the quality of Living Daylight (or Loving Light) is that you see so much frustration and suffering in others around you and do not usually perceive directly God’s love and mercy, which is supposed to be there. Especially if you live in a theistic tradition, you are told that God is merciful, God is good, God will help you. Yet, for most of your life, since you were a child, there was always pain and suffering. Where was God’s love? According to the perception of the child, you don’t see God interfering at all because, as a child, you think God is some kind of person who will help you. But you don’t see anyone like that showing up to take away the suffering. So you feel disappointed and hurt by God and then, of course, anger and enmity towards Him. That anger is directed toward the Loving Light because you’re disappointed in it. It didn’t help. You felt abandoned by God. The issues of negativity, reactivity, hatred, and particularly the devil-like structures we are discussing here, are often neglected in spiritual paths that involve an emphasis on love. Our experience in the Diamond Approach is that when these structures are not hidden or rejected, but are illuminated and understood, the actual truth of the loving nature of the universe becomes accessible and can be integrated into the ongoing experience of the soul.